Vis a Vis, Visa pour l’Amour

Review in Issue 11-1 | Spring 1999

This is a charming piece, full of style, skill and simplicity. Lionel About and Vincent Bruel work seamlessly together, and are equally compelling to watch as individual performers.

Their garden-like set, with a magic shed in its comer, is the perfect setting for their silent clown characters. Accompanied by appropriately frenetic harpsichord music, the duo's superbly honed juggling routines elicited genuine gasps of amazement from the audience. Strategically placed microphones on the floor amplify the metrical bouncing of the rubber balls which are passed in the incredibly adept juggling sequences; the mesmerising rhythms, capture and conserve the audience's attention further.

The ambience of the piece alternates refreshingly between subtle slapstick and emotional, abstract dance routines. Likewise, their actions swing perversely between the cultivating of juggling balls in flower pots, and feuding over the possession of a tiny plastic watering can, to one turning the other upside down to reveal his apparent ability as a human rain-stick. Yet the grace with which each task is carried out means that this diversity gels and flows without hindrance. As the piece develops, the size of the juggling balls increases to impressive proportions, until the climax in which a set of illuminated balls swing from the rig, like a gargantuan executive toy.

It is something of a relief to see a mime performance that displays some obvious discipline and meticulously rehearsed material. Vis a Vis are a multi talented duo, and this show suitably displays their abilities

Artforms
Presenting Artists
Presenting Venue
Date Seen
  1. Jan 1999

This article in the magazine

Issue 11-1
p. 22